Compensating the Mentally Impaired Worker

Abstract

The manifestations and epidemiology of mental illness in the workplace present varied and complex issues, some having potential legal ramifications. Among the latter are questions of the privacy of employee psychiatric records, the duties of company psychiatrists, the employer’s duties under common law to protect the mental health of workers, and the employer’s contractual and statutory obligations to provide mental health benefits. The discussion presented here focuses on one aspect of mental health benefits, the right of workers to receive disability compensation for mental impairment whose cause can be linked to the workplace.